E Charles Adams

Biography

Received PhD in anthropology with specialization in archaeology from University of Colorado, Boulder in 1975. Dissertation focused on settlement strategies employed by early Pueblo goups in eastern San Juan River region of Southwest Colorado. From 1975-1982 worked for Museum of Northern Arizona directing Walpi Archaeological Project, which focused on excavation and restoration of First Mesa Hopi Pueblo of Walpi. From 1983-85 was Director of Research for Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in southwest Colorado. Crow Canyon involves the public in its research programs with specific programs for high school students and adults. Initiated survey and excavation programs for Crow Canyon. From 1985-present I have directed the Homol'ovi Research Program for Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. This program focuses on research in the central Little Colorado River valley mostly related to ancestral Hopi communities dating 1260-1400. This program has trained 100s of students and involved 100s of volunteers during its 30-year existence. Numerous publication by staff and students plus posters and exhibits, and more than 25 theses and dissertations have been the products of the research.

Related Links

Interests

Teaching

Training future generations of students how to conduct fieldwork in the U.S. Southwest through teaching Anth455A&B and Anth444A&B, lab and fieldwork, in a hands-on setting.Teaching advanced undergraduate and graduate students courses on the deep history of the U.S. Southwest through Anth 447/547 and Anth 418/518. These courses are taught alternately in the spring. .

Research

Ancestral and early Hopi use and occupation of the Little Colorado River basin through archaeological survey and excavation. Focal topics are ancient religion and ritual, social organization, human-environmental interactions, and formation of the archaeological record. Related research interests include documenting the deep history of the region dating from Clovis times, ca. 13,000 bp, to Spanish contact. Engaging with descendent communities and local citizens to enhance their understanding of the region's past through cooperative research, exhibits, and community presentations.

Courses

2017-18 Courses

Thesis

ANTH 910 (Spring 2018)

Dissertation

ANTH 920 (Fall 2017)

Senior Thesis

ANTH 498A (Fall 2017)

2016-17 Courses

Senior Thesis

ANTH 498A (Summer I 2017)

Dissertation

ANTH 920 (Spring 2017)

Independent Study

ANTH 499 (Spring 2017)

Senior Thesis

ANTH 498A (Spring 2017)

Southwest Land+Society

AIS 418 (Spring 2017)

Southwest Land+Society

ANTH 418 (Spring 2017)

Southwest Land+Society

ANTH 518 (Spring 2017)

Southwest Land+Society

ARL 518 (Spring 2017)

Southwest Land+Society

LAS 518 (Spring 2017)

Dissertation

ANTH 920 (Fall 2016)

Senior Thesis

ANTH 498A (Fall 2016)

2015-16 Courses

Field Archaeology-Excavation

ANTH 455B (Summer I 2016)

Field Archaeology-Excavation

ANTH 555B (Summer I 2016)

Field Archaeology-Lab Techn

ANTH 455A (Summer I 2016)

Field Archaeology-Lab Techn

ANTH 555A (Summer I 2016)

Related Links

Scholarly Contributions

Books

Edited monograph containing fourteen chapters that details the results of archaeological excavations from 2003-2006 of the ancestral Hopi pueblo, Chevelon. Chevelon was occupied from ca. 1290-1390 and has approximately 500 rooms. It is unique in the area in being burned when its 300 or so occupants left to relocate to contemporary villages 60 miles north on the Hopi mesas. Adams is author of six chapters, selected and photographed most of the objects included in the volume, and edited the volume.

Chapters

Bernardini, W., & Adams, E. C. (2017). Hopi History prior to 1600.. In The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the American Southwest(pp 429-443). New York: Oxford University Press.

Describes history of Hopi Indians from 500 BC to AD 1630 when Spaniards established missions among Hopi using archaeological evidence. Identifies materiality of Hopi people in the archaeological record..

This paper explores material patterns of structure and village closure among several villages in theHomol’ovi Settlement Cluster on the Little Colorado River in northeastern Arizona, with specialemphasis on Chevelon Pueblo. Excavations in nearly 200 structures within the cluster reveal a variety ofclosure practices including burial of floors and floor features, structural burning, and object placement. Itis argued these patterns are part of a long Pueblo tradition of closure practices used not to severconnections with a space, community, or landscape, but to continue material connections to these places.Some indications of dedication practices for plazas and features were uncovered at Homol’ovi I and willbe discussed as part of broader memory-making practices within the community. Finally, a case will bemade that the burning of Chevelon Pueblo may have been a purposeful act of forgetting.

Others

The Ancestral Pueblos is a module in an online learning program entitled MWorld that is based on the interactive Tablet platform focused on children ages 8-12. The Ancestral Pueblo module presents the entire history of Pueblo people over the past 4000 years presented on 26 screens of information. The screens are based on archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence.